‘Gotham’ Star Cameron Monaghan Basically Confirms His Role as the Joker

There was a whole lot of wishy-washy nonsense surrounding Cameron Monaghan’s role as Jerome in Gotham Season 1. Was he FOX’s Bat-prequel version of the Joker or wasn’t he? Executive producer Bruno Heller teased the arrival of Batman’s most famous villain in Season 1, but backtracked later to say we would see a “pre-embryonic” origin story of the character in Season 2. But according to a photo posted by Monaghan, we may have been misled — or not. I don’t know. This is getting out of hand.

Monaghan posted the photo on his Instagram account, sporting the Joker’s signature grin in a mock mugshot:

Monaghan, who also stars on Showtime’s Shameless, portrayed Jerome, a pale circus kid whom Gordon very strongly suspects of murdering his parents. Heller was planning on holding back the arrival of the Joker until Season 2, but said that he had given in to fan demands and anticipation, revealing that a Season 1 episode would “scratch the surface of that story.”

But then back in April he told ComicBook.com that we’d see a “pre-embryonic” origin story for the big baddie:

You’re not going to see teases of The Joker before the end of the season, because the beginning of Season Two is a big Joker-oriented, or ‘how the Joker came to be’ kind of story. The beginning of Season Two is the very earliest origins of how The Joker came to be.

Perhaps Heller is toying with us. Perhaps Monaghan is messing with our heads. It seems silly to keep going back and forth about it.